FILMMAKER MOORE HAS THE RIGHT TO QUESTION CONFLICT IN IRAQ

It was predicted that the media storm over last week's release of former President Bill Clinton's memoir would drown out the campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

But not even the human lightning rod that is Clinton has generated as much electricity as filmmaker Moore.

Nor will the contents of Clinton's book, "My Life," be as fiercely debated as Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit 9-11," which opened this weekend to record box-office numbers.

Clinton's 957-page literary dumbbell — if you buy two copies you can get in an excellent arm-curl workout — will be well bought if not well read.

But each ticket purchased for Moore's movie means his product will be well seen.

And what a polarizing product it is. One conservative group, Move America Forward, tried to dissuade movie theaters from showing it.

While I was standing in line Saturday afternoon at the theater, a middle-aged woman, looking at the mass of people in front of her, told a friend, "I hope this is reflective of how people vote in November."

Because I don't want to mischaracterize her politics, she may have said, "I hope this isn't reflective of how people will vote in November."

Either way, the potential for converting box-office dollars into Election Day votes was obvious.

I'm not the biggest Michael Moore fan. Moore's a talented filmmaker and, like him, my politics are left of center. But his shrillness, grandstanding and playing loose with facts sometimes detracts from his causes and makes him someone I don't want as my advocate.

Ideologues of the left, like Moore, or of the right, like Rush Limbaugh, don't see nuance in issues and will trim the sails of facts to steer them in their political direction.

At times, "Fahrenheit 9-11" is overly simplistic, disingenuous and sometimes more interested in the cheap hit instead of deeper examination of a point.

But stripped of everything else, the essence of the film is: Why are we at war in Iraq?

Yes, Saddam was a tyrant and Iraqis are better off without him. But that wasn't the stated reason for us going to war. The weapons of mass destruction that were have yet to be found.

To question the war, its direction and our leaders doesn't make anyone less of a good American or less worried about terrorism than those satisfied with the answers.

Moore's film is at its most powerful and moving when it focuses on the men and women fighting the war.

There are some who instead of criticizing Moore and his film on its substance and flaws are using both as springboards to attack "liberals" and their purported hatred of America, as if no liberals are among those who have given their lives in this war.

When the coffins of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq are returned home, they aren't draped with red flags for the states that voted Republican in the last election or with blue flags for the states that voted Democratic.

No political party or individual is entitled to those colors more than any other.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave a message for Cary Clack, call (210) 250-3546 or e-mail cclack@express-news.net. His column appears on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

He slept in trash containers and a Salvation Army shelter as he tried to finish high school.

He worked odd jobs to buy food because there was no one to sign the forms for him to enter the school's free lunch program.

On Sunday, he walked across the stage at Laurie Auditorium as an honor graduate of Wayland Baptist University, earning two degrees and being named the recipient of the Hector Garcia Memorial Award for the outstanding undergraduate in human services.

"There are people here smarter than me," he said. "But nobody is going to outwork me."

During commencement, Wayland President Paul Armes told the story of Wilma Rudolf, who was lame in one leg but had a dream of being a runner.

Through a lot of hard work, she learned to walk without her brace, Armes said. Then she managed to run.

Though not physically lame, Caluya, too, learned early that no success comes without hard work.

Caluya said that when he was 2, his father abandoned the family, and the state of California placed each of the seven boys in the family in a different foster home.

The system, Caluya said, "destroyed my brothers. It sucked their souls out. They were all incarcerated. I'm the only one who wasn't."

His foster parents made him work in the fields, and the payoff was three meals a day: "Oatmeal. Cornmeal. And no meal."

He ran away from the system at 16 because he didn't want to accept anyone's help any more.

Before graduating, he attended five high schools. What kept him going were his football coaches. "They were people I wanted to see every day."

"They helped me. They made me feel special. They told me, 'There's something different about you. I don't know what it is, but you are going to do great things.'"

Married and with a child on the way, Caluya left junior college and joined the Air Force.

One of his jobs was walking guard duty around C-5 cargo planes eight hours a day.

Some fellow guards complained, saying the job sucked. "I told them, 'You have no concept of what "sucks" means.'

"I had three meals a day, two babies at home and the Air Force was providing us housing," he said. "What was there to complain about? Every day above ground was a great day."

One duty he particularly liked was providing security for Air Force One. Sometimes President Reagan would amble to the back of the plane to chat with the guards.

"He'd ask us, 'Would you like a sandwich? You know, I have some pull around here.' He was a nice man."

Hard work paid off in 1999, when Caluya was named the Air Force's top health professions recruiter.

"There are military men and women in the desert in Iraq today who go without food, go without water, go without showers. They say, 'This is nothing new. This is nothing I'm not already used to.'"

Freshly retired from 23 years of active duty and the first in his family to get a college degree, Caluya has already begun a new line of work as an adult probation officer on the midnight shift in Poteet.

"When you ride the elevator up," he explained simply, "you send it down for somebody else."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- rvwilson@express-news.net

"Did Fatso show clips of Bill Clinton justifying going to war with Iraq for those same exact reasons? Methinks not."

Election 2004 reminder (flashback to John Kerry's comments from 1997):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1087918/posts

(November 12, 1997 under a different administration of a different political party) - what has changed???

"...there's absolutely no statement that they have made or that they will make that will prevent the United States of America and this president or any president from acting in what they believe are the best interests of our country."

"I think the United States has always reserved the right and will reserve the right to act in its best interests. And clearly it is not just our best interests, it is in the best interests of the world to make it clear to Saddam Hussein that he's not going to get away with a breach of the '91 agreement that he's got to live up to, which is allowing inspections and dismantling his weapons and allowing us to know that he has dismantled his weapons. That's the price he pays for invading Kuwait and starting a war."

"I believe, and they stood with us today and I am saying to you that it is my judgment that by standing with us today and calling for the unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, you know, access, they have now taken a stand that they are duty bound to enforce and if Saddam Hussein doesn't do that, the president, I think, has begun a process which you remember very well, John, was not done in one week, in one day, in one month. It took months to weave together the fabric to lead up to an understanding of what was at stake. I am convinced that many people have not yet even focused in full measure on what is at stake."

Of course he "has the right". This is America and people have the "right" to say outrageous things, make fools of themselves, etc. Who is questioning that?

But stripped of everything else, the essence of the film is: Why are we at war in Iraq?

Easily enough answered: our Congress listed their reasons for authorizing war in Iraq in the War Powers Declaration which did so. Just a few highlights: " Iraq's war of aggression ... cease-fire agreement ... Iraq, in direct and flagrant violation of the cease-fire ... remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations ... continuing to engage in brutal repression of its civilian population thereby threatening international peace and security in the region, by refusing to release, repatriate, or account for non-Iraqi citizens wrongfully detained by Iraq, including an American serviceman ... the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States ... members of al Qaida...are known to be in Iraq ... the risk that the current Iraqi regime will either employ those weapons to launch a surprise attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or provide them to international terrorists who would do so..." etc.

Too bad Michael Moore apparently never read the actual War Powers Resolution, it mentions lots and lots of reasons. Apparently this silly movie was entirely unnecessary and stems from Moore's ignorance and/or intellectual laziness. Pity.

Yes, Saddam was a tyrant and Iraqis are better off without him. But that wasn't the stated reason for us going to war.

Well, it was part of it (see above).

There's no "the" stated reason, that's just the usual lefty strawman.

The weapons of mass destruction that were have yet to be found.

The weapons of mass destruction were not "the" stated reason either. In almost two dozen "Whereas" paragraphs, "weapons of mass destruction" are mentioned exactly seven times and in most of those cases what is actually being cited is "Iraq's demonstrated willingness in the past to use weapons of mass destruction" or something similar.

The fact that we (supposedly) haven't found weapons of mass destructions following invasion does not invalidate that reasoning at all.

To question the war, its direction and our leaders doesn't make anyone less of a good American or less worried about terrorism than those satisfied with the answers.

Of course not.

However, to spew a bunch of dishonest propaganda so that Europeans who hate America will shower you with dollars, and to try to influence the election with that dishonesty, actually does make one less of a good American.

It's still his "right" to be a bad American, of course. I'd never question that right of his in a million years.

There are some who instead of criticizing Moore and his film on its substance and flaws are using both as springboards to attack "liberals"

Who? Name those "some" please.

There are some (Cary Clack for example) who instead of defending Moore and his film on its substance and flaws are using it as a springboard to attack unnamed "some" who (supposedly) use the film to attack "liberals".

and their purported hatred of America

Hey, if the shoe fits... methinks he protests too much here.

I only accuse Michael Moore (and, "Europeans") of hating America. Yet for some reason Cary Clack seems to hear himself in that criticism. Why would that be hm?

No they are not. Thanks for that great point Cary Clack.

No political party or individual is entitled to those colors more than any other.

Except Michael Moore of course who has used their deaths to create a propaganda film which is "at its most powerful and moving when it focuses on the men and women fighting the war".

Do their families get royalties?

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